PHOTOS BY CLAY WHITTINGTON Members of the Badgers’ coaching staff look on from the background as quarterback Vann Millican, left in white, executes a play during Wednesday afternoon’s practice. The Badgers will play their first playoff game since 2000 tonight against Austin McCallum. Competing in the playoffs is an unusual occurrence for Lampasas, and for some Badgers, it is a completely foreign concept.

Since defeating Hutto 47-20 last week and earning the final playoff berth for District 25-4A, head coach Joey McQueen has spent a big chunk of his time bringing his team up to speed on how to handle bi-district opponent Austin McCallum

But he also has been familiarizing his players with how the postseason operates in general.

“I had to tell them, ‘If you win and then you win again, you’ll be playing on Thanksgiving,’ and they were like ‘Huh?’ ” McQueen said. “I said, ‘You know, like the Longhorns or the Cowboys.’

Alan Figurski (15) and Ronnie Branch both turn upfield after catching passes. “One player asked if we had a bye. They didn’t even realize there are two divisions.”

To the players’ credit, the last time Lampasas reached the postseason the current squad members were in elementary school, and Saturday morning cartoons held more significance than Friday night lights to most.

Even coming into the season, reaching the postseason was realistically a long shot for a team that went 0-20 over the previous two seasons. Dave Campbell’s “Texas Football” predicted the Badgers would finish dead last in District 25-4A.

But over the last month, expectations in Badger country have changed.

Lampasas (4-6, 3-3 district) won three of its final four games to clinch its first playoff appearance since 2000, with each victory coming in a must-win situation.

Ronnie Branch (1) dives forward to gain additional yardage as he prepares for McCallum during practice. The Knights are riding a seven-game win streak. While at the helm, McQueen takes little responsibility for the transformation.

“You just have to have good assistant coaches,” the first-year Badgers coach said. “You know they are going to love the kids, but they are going to get after them and make them accountable.

“I think the big thing about when you come into a place and turn things around is that you hold not only yourself but your assistants and your kids accountable.”

Tonight, the Badgers will be held accountable for their actions on the field as they look to earn the program’s first playoff victory in over a decade.

The Knights come into the bidistrict match-up riding a wave of emotion and momentum.

After unexpectedly losing their head coach Pat Honeycutt to a heart attack in the offseason, McCallum lost its first two games of the year by a combined 35 points.

But the Knights caught fire against Dripping Springs, and no team has doused the flames yet.

McCallum (7-2, 5-0 District 26- 4A) is on a seven-game winning streak, which included a 70-20 pounding of Austin Reagan in the regular-season finale behind the stellar senior campaign of quarterback Clete Donovan (987 passing yards, 809 rushing yards, 21 total TDs).

In similar scenarios against dualthreat quarterbacks, the Badgers have successfully found ways to contain them.

Some of the praise goes to defense, but the offense also is responsible for the below-average performances of opponents.

“A big part of that is we’re controlling the ball and keeping it away from them,” McQueen said. “If they’re not on the field, that’s going to help us a whole lot.”

The Badger offense will need to be on point again, as McCallum has scored at least 30 points per game since embarking on its winning streak.

After not completing a pass until their fourth game of the year and not throwing for a touchdown until mid-October, the Badgers have seemingly found their air attack.

In last Friday’s contest against Hutto, quarterback Vann Millican threw for 89 yards and two touchdowns on three-for-three passing.

Lampasas has no problems running the ball, though.

In district competition, the second-best rushing team has produced two of the top five individual rushers.

Edward Hall ranks second on the list with 966 yards (1,386 season), and full back Brode DuBose is fifth with 470 yards (763 season).

Defensively, the Knights -- comprised of big, aggressive athletes -- remind McQueen of Killeen. The Badgers posted 319 yards of offense, all rushing, and 17 points against the Kangaroos.

“As long as we get close to 300 yards rushing, we’ll be fine,” McQueen said. “We’d like to get 350 because we don’t throw very much, but a lot of times we’ve been at 300 and it’s been good.

“I think this offense has helped us. People might think it’s boring, but winning to me is not boring. If you want to spell fun, it is w-i-n.”

Regardless of whether the Badgers win or lose tonight in Georgetown, the team will learn a little more about the playoffs than they knew last week.

Best of all, it will all be firsthand knowledge.